Chapter 392 One Rotten Apple Spoils the Whole Barrel
“Take it easy. I have a feeling they’ve come prepared, so we’d better not fall into their trap.” Felicia patted Anastasia’s shoulder.
After entering the conference room, Anastasia looked toward the five people sitting there. There were two lawyers, two Savill staff, and the director.
“Are you Anastasia Tillman, the person who stole my designer’s work?” George sneered as soon as he saw Anastasia.
At that, Anastasia stared coldly at him. “On what basis do you say that?”
“We have proof, of course. In fact, you replicated nearly the whole of my designer’s piece and submitted it to the show.”
“I know well if I’ve done so.” Anastasia continued to stare coldly at George, not intimidated at all.
Just then, one of them took out an iPad and opened the sketch before handing it to Anastasia. “Miss Tillman, why don’t you take a look at these two pieces first? One of them is our designer’s drawing and the other one is yours. They’re practically identical.”
Anastasia took the iPad with a frown and couldn’t help being stupefied upon seeing the sketches. They were indeed identical with only differences in a few details.
“This is my work. You guys stole it!” Anastasia retorted as she put the iPad down.
“We get that you’re not talented enough, Miss Tillman, and that you want to establish your reputation as a designer by plagiarizing my designer’s work,” George said with utter sympathy.
At that, Felicia stood up for Anastasia. “That’s where you’re wrong. Miss Tillman is our most talented designer, and she will never steal somebody’s work.”
“Naturally, we would gather all the evidence before coming to look for you. Firstly, this piece is from our chief designer, Jacqueline Sherman. Secondly, she released it earlier than you did. What’s more, the finished product was placed in our company’s display case last month. However, Miss Tillman submitted her sketch on the twelfth of this month. According to the timeline, she could’ve plagiarized the piece.”
“Impossible!” Anastasia held her breath, shocked that Savill had moved so quickly.
Felicia’s face turned slightly grim as well. She remembered that Anastasia had keyed her piece into the company’s system on the second of this month and submitted the sketch to the show a week ago. Hence, the timing was very unfavorable for Anastasia.
Nonetheless, she still trusted that Anastasia wouldn’t do something like this.
“Miss Tillman, Savill will not tolerate such behavior. You have two options—take down your piece, apologize to Savill publicly on behalf of Bourgeois, and compensate for our loss. Otherwise, we will pursue your legal liability for plagiarizing our work and demand compensation. Of course, you’d still have to apologize to us.”
George pressed on, and he even concluded that Anastasia was the thief.
At that, Felicia said, “We need to dig into this before giving you an answer. Why don’t you guys head back first?”
“Alright, seeing that we’re fellow traders, I’ll give you until 3.00PM tomorrow.” George added disdainfully, “How unfortunate for something like this to happen within the jewelry design industry.”
Anastasia was still baffled when the door closed behind her. How did Savill manage to display her work in advance?!
She was certain that was her design, for she had sketched it out with her own hands. In fact, that piece came to her when she sat alone until late at night under the starry sky.
How did she become the plagiarist?!
The true thief was Jacqueline!
Anastasia heard people gossiping about her the entire way back to her office. Some who long had a problem with her couldn’t care less about offending her anymore.
“I thought she really was capable, but it turns out she got to her position by stealing other people’s work.”
“Well, isn’t that the truth? Thanks to her, our company’s reputation will be ruined.”
“I swear, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.”
Meanwhile, Alice entered Anastasia’s office with a cup of coffee, gloating. “I thought you were something! Who knew that you only rose to fame with such shortcuts?!”
